Tag Archives: water

A SOB IN HIS VOICE – 11

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John 7:37 NLT‬
[37] On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me!”

What did Jesus think when He saw the water ceremony being done once again? How many times had He witnessed the same thing…the high priest pouring water on the ground, only for the water to disappear into the hot sand, leaving only a patch of mud that would soon dry up.

What a picture of the religion God’s people were trying to practise. It had become like water poured into the sand. It benefitted no one because it had nothing to offer.

For Jesus, this ceremony was even more poignant because He was God in person, there for spiritually thirsty people who would believe in Him, forever… but they refused to receive Him.

What could be greater for thirsty souls than a fountain of crystal clear water inside them, always in them to drink at will. God often described Himself as a spring of living water for His people, there to quench their thirst if they would but come and drink, but which they had forsaken for worthless idols.

Jeremiah 2:13 NLT‬
[13] “For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me— the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!”I

His invitation was always there for anyone to drink and will remain until the end of time.

Isaiah 55:1 NLT‬
[1] “Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money!”

‭His supply of living water is endless.

‭Psalms 46:4 NLT‬
[4] A river brings joy to the city of our God, the sacred home of the Most High.

‭Ezekiel 47:1 NLT‬
[1] “In my vision, the man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple. There I saw a stream flowing east from beneath the door of the Temple and passing to the right of the altar on its south side.”

‭Revelation 22:1-2 NLT‬
[1] “Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. [2] It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations….
[17] The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life.”

Water… we cannot live without it. A miracle substance made up of two elements, oxygen, which we breath, and hydrogen, apparently a versatile substance which has many uses in industry.

However, apart, they cannot do anything for thirst but fused together, they become water. We drink beverages for various reasons but when we are thirsty, only water will do.

It’s no wonder God made water for thirsty people but water is no use to us if we don’t drink it.

Why did Jesus have a sob in His voice when he shouted out His invitation? He knew His people would reject Him.

‭Luke 19:41-44 NLT‬
[41] “But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. [42] “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. [43] Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. [44] They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you.”

‭Matthew 23:37 NLT‬
[37] “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.”

Jesus’ offer of life falls on deaf ears when the heart is hardened by sin and unbelief.

And He weeps…

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – WHO IS REALLY RESPONSIBLE?

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WHO IS REALLY RESPONSIBLE

“But Jesus shot back, ‘You frauds! Each Sabbath every one of you regularly unties your cow or donkey from its stall, leads it out for water and thinks nothing of it. So why isn’t it all right for me to untie this daughter of Abraham and lead her from the stall where Satan has had her tied these eighteen years?’ When He put it that way, His critics were left looking quite silly and red-faced. The congregation was delighted and cheered Him on.” Luke 13:15-17.

Could the synagogue ruler have answered Jesus, ‘But my animals are not under the law of God like we are’? From his perspective he could have been right but Jesus never viewed life from the human perspective. That’s the difference between Him and us. Our logic is human. Jesus always thought God’s thoughts. The very essence of our new life in Christ is to learn to think God’s thoughts instead of our own.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2 (NIV).

So what was Jesus’ perspective on this woman’s condition? Satan! He was the culprit. But, lest we assume that we are automatically Satan’s victims, we need to understand the way he works. Neither God nor Satan has any power over the gift God gave us – the freedom to make our own choices. We choose according to what we believe. God calls us to respond to truth while Satan works through deception.

In this woman’s case, somewhere in her life something happened that gave Satan his opportunity to sow lies in her mind. She believed his lies and emotional pain followed, which blocked out the truth of God’s love and caused her body to become as twisted as her mind.

Satan’s lies are always directed at discrediting ourselves, other people and, eventually, God, resulting in feelings of fear, anger, rejection, insecurity, unforgiveness, bitterness and worthlessness which are the ideal breeding ground for demonic harassment. The devil’s ensnarement comes in the form of mental, emotional and physical bondage from which there is no escape except by diagnosing the lie and replacing it with the truth which, said Jesus, is the key to freedom.

People in this condition desperately long for someone to rescue them. There is not a person in the world who can do this except Jesus. He came from the Father to bring both grace and truth to His world. Only He can set captives free; no psychiatrist, psychologist nor counsellor can reveal the truth to the heart of the sufferer. No medication can cure the mind of the lies which hold people prisoner to mental and physical ‘illness’.

How tragic that our medical scientists, in their human ‘wisdom’, have chosen to bypass, ignore, and reject the only person who has the power to set people free, Jesus, who is the Prince of Peace. Every malady has a ‘diagnosis’ and is so categorised that its real cause is masked by the name of some or other disorder. We are satisfied as long as we have a ‘diagnosis’ even if there is no ‘cure’. Our conditions are ‘managed’ while Jesus came to set captives free.

His anger was aroused by this heartless ‘religious’ man who saw more value in his animals than in a woman whom Jesus deliberately called ‘a daughter of Abraham’. She had as much right to freedom as the animals whom he faithfully led to water, even on the Sabbath, because she was a member of God’s covenant people. Freedom from the shackles of emotional pain is the inheritance of believers in Jesus. Have you come to Him to set you free?

Failure

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FAILURE

When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet Him. ‘What are you arguing with them about?’ He asked. A man in the crowd answered, ‘Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.’ (Mark 9:14-18).

Jesus’ disciples weren’t doing very well, were they? The ones with Him up the mountain were hopelessly uncomprehending and the ones down below were out of their depth with a demon-possessed boy. They were supposed to be practising to be disciples but all they could produce at this stage was failure.

Imagine the disappointment and exasperation the father of the boy must have felt! Of course he understood that these men were followers of Jesus and that they, therefore, should be able to do what He did. But they couldn’t. The evil spirit just would not obey them. Didn’t the spirit know that he was supposed to get out when they told it to? Apparently not.

‘You unbelieving generation,’ Jesus replied, ‘how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you?  Bring the boy to me.’ (Mark 9: 19).

Jesus exploded! After all this time with them, all they could produce was unbelief and failure. What was wrong with them? How long would it take Him to convince these knuckleheads that He was who He was and that He had given them authority to do what He did? Exasperated, He called for the boy to be brought to Him. What was the use of having disciples when He had to do it all Himself?

What was their problem? His outburst, in the words of Eugene Peterson (The Message), reveal their mind-set, still stuck on their circumstances instead of being aware of God.

‘What a generation! No sense of God! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this?

In this outburst, Jesus revealed the difference between the attitude of the disciples and His attitude – God-awareness. Adam and Eve lost their God-awareness the moment they disobeyed Him and stepped out of His felt presence. They hid from Him because they were afraid. Why were they afraid? They were aware of their nakedness? What happened to change everything? Because of their rebellion, they became painfully self-aware and their self-awareness took over.

Jesus was so God-conscious, so one with the Father, that He did everything in God. There was no situation too big for Him to handle because He and the Holy Spirit were one. Yes, Jesus was frustrated with His disciples and yet, failure was as much, if not more, their training ground as success. Isn’t it true that we learn more from our failures than from our successes?

Jesus was annoyed but not fazed by their inability to drive out the demon. He knew that when the Holy Spirit fell on them, they would be launched into a new kind of life, filled with revelation and authority way beyond their wildest dreams. This is still boot-camp. They were still battling with the basics, but their time was coming.

So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

Jesus asked the boy’s father, ‘How long has he been like this?’ ‘From childhood,’ he answered. ‘It has often thrown him into the fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us. ‘If you can’? said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for one who believes.’  (Mark 9: 20-23).

Now we are beginning to understand why the disciples failed with this boy. This was a particularly stubborn and defiant demon. It even tried to resist Jesus. It had been squatting in this boy for years and was not about to give way without a fight.

The father’s wistful request brought an indignant retort from Jesus. “If you can”? He echoed. Of course He could. He would never ignore a cry for help. But His mercy needed trust. If the father trusted Jesus, it would happen.

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’ (Mark 9: 24).

Now it was all coming together – God-consciousness that made them more aware of God than the circumstances, and the authority that flowed from that God-consciousness; and confidence that Jesus could do it. This was a lesson the disciples had to learn. It was not about them. It was about Him. They could do it because He said so and He had confidence in their confidence in Him.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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We Can Trust Him!

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WE CAN TRUST HIM! 

“When evening came, His disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were frightened. But He said to them, ‘It is I; don’t be afraid.’ Then they were willing to take Him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.” John 6:16-21 (NIV).

“With Jesus in the boat…!” How often have you heard that message preached?

Why did John include this incident in his story? Remember that he was giving evidence that Jesus is the Son of God so that his readers would believe in Him. Every incident was a sign that His claims were true because His miracles authenticated who He claimed to be. Every sign pointed to some aspect of His person and work as the Messiah that gave clarity to what He came to do.

Mark added a detail to his account of this incident that makes it spring to life. “He was about to pass by them, but when they saw Him walking on the lake, they thought He was a ghost…” Mark 6:48c (NIV). If Jesus was walking on the water to go to them, why would He want to pass by them? It makes no sense unless there is something more to His intention than meets the eye.

We have to look for the use of this phrase somewhere else in Scripture to capture its meaning.

In Exodus 34, in response to Moses’ request, God was about to reveal His name to him. He had instructed him to bring another two stone tablets with him up the mountain because Moses had smashed the first two tablets in his anger against his people. While he had been up the mountain with God, they had got Aaron to make them a calf-god out of gold which they were worshipping with undignified frenzy when he returned.

God promised to hide him in a crevice in a rock and reveal His name to him. “Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed His name, the Lord.

“And He passed by in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness…’ ” Exodus 34:5, 6 (NIV).

Would His disciples have got the message? If they understood their Scriptures, they would surely have realized what Jesus was doing. He was making a very bold move to reproduce what He had done on Mount Sinai many centuries before, to reassure them that it was okay to trust Him because He was no phoney. A sign like that would have added to the weight of evidence they already had to convince them of His identity.

The outcome was equally startling. The moment He stepped into the boat, they arrived at their destination. We could, of course, argue that they were so taken up with watching Him walk on the rough water that they did not notice how near they were to the shore. That could be true but John made a point of reporting that His presence in the boat contributed to their speedy and safe arrival back at Capernaum.

“Passing by” seems to be a euphemism for revealing Himself to His people; God to Moses on the mountain and Jesus to His disciples on the lake. He was not abandoning them but alerting them to the deep truth He wanted them to be sure about. Just as it was God on the mountain reassuring Moses that, in spite of His people’s rebellion and failure to believe in Him, He was still the gracious and compassionate God who would forgive them and reinstate them as His covenant people, so also Jesus, on the lake, was reassuring His disciples that He was God; that He was with them and would graciously forgive and receive His people if they would put their trust in Him.

Their fear turned to relief when they realized who He was and they gladly assisted Him into the boat. The stormy lake lost its terror for them and, before they knew it, the boat scraped the shore and they were home, safe and sound after a very eventful day.

Jesus was slowly building a case for who He was. The disciples still wavered and doubted until the resurrection. From that moment on, nothing could shake their confidence in Him as their Lord and God.  With the same power of the Holy Spirit in them that had energized Him, they set out to turn the world upside down. But it took them a long time to get there.

We are also on a faith journey. Every incident in which Jesus is “passing by” strengthens and reassures us that He is who He said He is and we can trust Him.

What’s Your Take?

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WHAT’S YOUR TAKE? 

“Now the Pharisees who had been sent questioned him. ’Why then do you baptise if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah nor the Prophet?’ ‘I baptise with water,’ John replied, ‘but among you stands one you do not know.

“‘He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’ This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan where John was baptising.” John 1:24-28 (NIV).

Did John, the apostle, ever have an opportunity to chat to John the Baptist? This conversation between John the Baptist and the Pharisees who were sent to interrogate him does not appear in the other gospels. so how did the writer know about it? It was not curiosity or interest that prompted their questions. They wanted to know because they had to report back to the powers-that-be.

Why did John baptise? First of all we need to dissociate baptism from Christianity as an exclusive rite. Baptism was a common practice in Judaism. They practised mikvah, ritual washing, for many different reasons. Before a groom-to-be formally proposed to his bride-to-be, he instructed her to wash (mikvah) which indicated his intention and ritually prepared her for his proposal.

A young priest was initiated into the priesthood in the footsteps of his father by being acknowledged by his father (“This is my son”) and by being baptised into his office.

Why was John baptising? He was initiating people into the new era of Messiah, preparing the way by calling people to repentance and identity with Messiah and what He stood for through baptism. They were “washing away” the old life and taking on a new role, just as a bride-to-be was washing away her single life and taking on the role of the betrothed and soon-to-be wife. Through baptism she was separating herself from all other men to the one man who had chosen her.

Unfortunately, those who “baptise” infants have placed a different meaning on the ritual and have missed the real significance of both John’s and Jesus’ baptism. Baptism is not a new kind of circumcision. God has given us His Spirit as the sign of the New Covenant — the counterpart of circumcision, if you like. “When you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.” Ephesians 1:13b (NIV).

Just as circumcision was a sign of belonging to Israel and the guarantee of participation in God’s covenant, so also the Holy Spirit is the sign and guarantee that we belong to God, that we are His children and have the right to share in the blessings of the New Covenant.

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” Romans 8:13-16 (NIV).

Baptism is also a sign of separation. A young woman separated herself from other men. A priest was separated to his priestly office. A believer is separated from his old life by a ritual dying, to his new life in Christ. Jesus was separated to His Messianic office and finally separated through His baptism of suffering and death to His eternal high priestly office for us.

Baptising babies to include them in the covenant people of God cannot do that because the Holy Spirit takes up residence in those who believe, not those who are sprinkled with water. Paul even made it clear that the children of Abraham are not those who are natural descendants of the patriarch but spiritual descendants who have become part of spiritual Israel because of the their faith.

“Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham, ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’ So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” Galatians 3:7-9 (NIV).

Why was John baptising? There was one coming, right on his heels, to whom he was pointing. He was alerting the Pharisees and religious leaders as well as all who would heed his message, that He was here to usher in the new era of God’s rule in the hearts of His people. If they responded by trusting Him, they would have the privilege of becoming a part of an entirely new way of doing life, God’s way energised by God’s Spirit.

Are you in or out?